Stanford University basketball star Roy Yuan comes from a family with a wealthy background, as his dad, Eric Yuan, is a Chinese billionaire.
Subsequently, Eric is the founder and CEO of the world-renowned video-calling app Zoom Video Communications.
Roy Yuan is a college basketball star who plays as a guard for Stanford University. He earned All-West Catholic Athletic League honors during his junior and senior seasons in high school.
Additionally, he achieved recognition as a member of the All-Bay Area Team twice, underlining his exceptional skills in the sport.
Roy Yuan Dad Eric Yuan
As aforementioned, Roy comes from a notable family background as the son of a Chinese billionaire, Eric Yuan.
To begin with, Eric is a Chinese-American billionaire entrepreneur and the founder of Zoom Video Communications, a widely used video conferencing platform.
After completing a degree in engineering in China, he moved to the United States in the late 1990s.
He initially worked for several technology companies, including Cisco, where he gained valuable experience in the video conferencing industry.
In 2011, he founded Zoom Video Communications to create a user-friendly, reliable, and scalable video conferencing platform.
Under his leadership, Zoom experienced tremendous growth, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as remote work and virtual communication became essential.
The platform became a household name for business meetings, educational purposes, and social gatherings.
Due to the success of Zoom, his net worth has risen significantly, making him a notable figure in the business world. Subsequently, his entrepreneurial journey and the impact of Zoom on global communication have earned him recognition and accolades.
Challenging Journey To Silicon Valley
Before his success as a tech entrepreneur, Eric went through a hard struggle to make it to Silicon Valley.
From a young age, he aspired to leave China for Silicon Valley after being inspired by a speech from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates about the potential of the internet.
Despite facing challenges with visa applications, he persevered through eight rejections, finally obtaining a U.S. visa on his ninth attempt.
In 1997, at 27, he arrived in the U.S. without proficiency in English but armed with coding skills, securing an engineering position with the videoconferencing software company WebEx.
At his WebEx job, he earned a high six-figure salary. But his goals were much further, and he didn’t enjoy his job.
In 2011, Eric realized that if he intended to create a product according to his vision, he needed to step out of the security of his well-paying executive position and venture into entrepreneurship.
The success of Zoom has propelled him into worldwide recognition. Subsequently, people respect his hard work, grit, and undying spirit to succeed in Silicon Valley.
However, Eric believes his success has just started, and there are yet many more things his company can achieve.
“Our goal is to connect all 1 billion knowledge workers with the Zoom platform. So, given where we are now, I would think we literally just started.”
The success story of Eric Yuan is a lesson to aspiring entrepreneurs about the transformative power of determination, risk-taking, and unwavering commitment to one’s vision.
